Red Sox know their work is far from done

BOSTON -- "This is Step One," Larry Lucchino said.

The Red Sox did bust out the champagne for their celebration on Friday night, but they wanted to make it clear they expect to do this again.

"We're not done. This is something we can check off the list," Will Middlebrooks said. "This was one of our goals, but not the main one."

"It's a step along the way," manager John Farrell said. "We'll take time to enjoy it tonight, but our business is clearly not completed yet."

The Red Sox still have some business to take care of in the final week of the regular season. Boston has a two-game lead in the loss column for home-field advantage throughout the postseason. That's especially significant as it would allow Boston to avoid a first-round matchup with the Tigers, getting the wild-card winner instead.

There's also an outside shot at the fourth 100-win season in franchise history if Boston can go 6-1 down the stretch.

"We never put a win total on the number of games put in the win column. We've got seven left. We'll see where it takes us," said Farrell. "I think the biggest thing is to secure home-field advantage however we can because we thrive on the energy and atmosphere that's created in this ballpark. Our guys are extremely confident when we play at home. At home, this is a very different feel."

Boston is 52-27 at Fenway Park this season -- the second-best home mark in the majors.

"I resist the temptation to think ahead," Farrell said. "We've got some plans and sketches of some ideas and things we might want to arrange as we go through the latter part of next week. We'll enjoy this tonight but we'll be right back out there ready to play tomorrow night."

Needless to say, this isn't a Red Sox team content to just make the postseason. Boston wants to win its first playoff game and series since 2008.

"This is just one of the goals that we set coming into spring training," said Jon Lester. "We have a long ways to go. We're going to keep grinding it out, we're going to grind out the rest of the season."

"This is the baby step right here," said David Ortiz. "The best part of everything is coming up now and we'll be ready."